THE MINING OF NICARAGUAN HARBORS--A GREAT POLITICAL MANIPULATION

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87B00858R000200170022-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
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• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: April 11, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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April 11, 1984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSh H 2755
have served well as seed money to gen- [Mr. McEWEN addressed.the House. where it has been proven beyond any
erate further funding from State gov- His remarks will appear hereafter ink reasonable doubt that major ship-
ernments and private sources. We the Extensions of Remarks.] ments of arms have come in through
must continue to support these value- that harbor into Nicaragua for revolu-
ble programs.
fl
In Connecticut, libraries have done
superb job of managing with their lim
ited resources. In fiscal year 1984, Con
necticut received about $1.5 million
Federal funds for statewide lib
services; thia was then matched by the
State with an additional $3.25 million.
This is a dramatic demonstration of
the wide impact of this Federal pro-
gram. These funds helped to add new
books to library collections, to provide
services to handicapped readers, and
to promote resource sharing among li-
braries.
It is appropriate to recognize Ameri-
ca's libraries both with our words and
with our appropriations. It is impossi-
ble to imagine a world in which librar-
ies were allowed to disappear, where
one did not have access to their collec-
tions. I join with my colleagues in sa-
luting America's libraries.9
GENERAL LEAVE
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I ask
unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to
revise and extend their remarks on the
subject of this special order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is
there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
WALmm) is recognized for 60 minutes.
[Mr. WALKER addressed the House.
His remarks will appear hereafter in
the Extensions of Remarks.]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from Georgia (Mr. GngozucH)
is recognized for 60 minutes.
[Mr. GINGRICH addressed the
House. His remarks will appear hereaf-
ter in the Extensions of Remarks.]
The SPEAKER Pro pore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from Minnesota (Mr. WESER) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
[Mr. WEBER addressed the House.
His remarks will appear hereafter in
the Extensions of Remarks.]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from Ohio (Mr. FEZGHAN) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
(Mr. FEIGHAN addressed the
House. His remarks will appear hereaf-
ter in the Extensions of Remarks.]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from Ohio (Mr. McEwEN) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
op ' treading per- I see very
THE MINING OF NICARAGUAN
HARBORS-A GREAT POLITI- little difference In placing those
CAL MANIPULATION mines, which are not meant to sink
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under ships or to kill or destroy ships, but
simply damage ships
a previous order of the House, the gen- for r ships coming as a deterrent
tleman from Michigan (Mr. SI.JANDzio into the harbor.
n, I
They are concussion made, reconnnzzed for 60 minuters. concussion mines, which handmade
(Mr. SILJANDER asked and was repeat, permission to revise and extend , are not used totally otally again,
destroy
his remarks.) steps, but only used in ternar! of dis-
his SILJANDER. Mr. Speaker, I ap- abling and damaging ships.
preciate the opportunity to address that Now, the e if we Congress-and that the face
the House on what I consider one of again, I repeat once
the greatest political manipulations I ~ain' that the Congress has voted for
more other have seen on the floor with the Com- types and more seriously
mittee on Foreign Affairs in a long deadly weapons, yet here have a
time in the Congress. tremendous outcry by the liberals in
Mr. Speaker, I must be very candid Congress about this action.
in talking about Nicaragua and the Mr. HYDE. Mi. Speaker, will the
crisis in Central America. Some people gentleman yield?
have exhibited what they call an out- Mr. SILJANDER. I yield to the gen-
rage, an outrage at the fact that the tleman from Illinois.
United States has somehow participat- ^ 1920
ed in mining the ports of Nicaragua.
I think it is important that we bring Mr. HYDE. I want to commend the
some of these facts to light regarding gentleman for his insight and for his
this particular situation. courage in taking the floor this eve-
No. 1. Mining of a harbor in Nicara- ning to speak out on an issue that dis-
gua has been done for one express turbs a great number of us, because
purpose-by the Contras, not the the train is rolling down the track.
United States, by the Contra-revolu- The administration is being con-
tionaries, to help in the constant demned out of hand because it dares,
effort to interdict arms flowing into it dares to seek to protect the suffer-
Nicaragua from the Soviet Union, ing 5 million people of El Salvador
from Cuba, from Libya, and even from from the importation of ammunition
the Palestinian Liberation Organiza- and weapons from communities in
tion back in the Middle East, funnel- Nicaragua and this, of course, is some-
It is just
ing arms into Nicaragua and then thing something nis Just ot to be done.
those arms are transferred from Nica-
ragua elsewhere in Central America to I want to ask the gentleman a ques-
promote what they call the visionary tion. You were present and you were
Marxist revolution without frontiers. very active in the consideration of the
I really see little difference in terms ill-fated Boland-Zablocki bill which
of the goal of interdiction or stopping you will recall we debated last year,
the arms flow into Nicaragua and out which sought to cut off any funds
of Nicaragua throughout the Central whatsoever for the insurgents fighting
American region, little difference in to recapture their own revolution
using mines or using grenades, guns, within Nicaragua, the forces that are
artillery, that this Congress has voted called Contras that were seeking to
in support to the counterrevolutionar- democratize their country, that were
lee in Nicaragua. Those grenades and seeking to have pluralism, to have a
those guns have killed people. If the free press, a free practice of religion.
Congress has still, at least in the past, And we were assisting in an undercov-
been considering, has considered suc- er fashion, which uniquely becomes
cessfully and is still considering more exposed because of the outrage of the
aid to the Contras in Nicaragua, I gentlemen of the left who dominate
think that is certainly reasonable con- the majority party and who seem to
sidering the crisis in Central America think that resistance to Marxist-Len-
and considering that we are facing inist hegemony is somehow wrong.
9,000 Cubans, we are facing 2,000 But the alternative that was offered
Soviet-bloc advisers, many PLO and by the Boland-Zablocki bill was to lit-
Libyans that are in Central America. erally build a fence around Nicaragua,
Incidentally, regarding the PLO in that it was somehow ungentlemanly
Central America, I rather doubt that and indecent to support undercover
the PLO is looking for a homeland in operations, covert operations, so we
Central America. They are there with will build a fence overtly, we will inter-
the Cubans, the Soviets and the Lib- dict this exporting of weapons and am-
yam for one express purpose, to help munition to El Salvador by halting
promote that Marxist revolution them overtly; $80 million was the
throughout the region. amount of money that was authorized
But back to the parallel. I see very in that legislation.
little difference in allowing the Con- I want to ask the gentleman: Do you
tras to place mines in the harbor remember what thgJr_wAns*ion was
4 ZL
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H 2756 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE April 11, 1984
on interdicting shipments of arms to First of all, the fact, No. 1, which we I am most interested and fascinated
lei Salvador by sea? I can see building talked about earlier today. Since the by the statistics of the gentleman
a barbed wire fewce, maybe electrified. Sandinistas took over in Nicaragua, 36 from Indiana, because what we see is a
I sum you could not put land mines new military bases have been built. country, Nicaragua, a poor country.
around Nicaragua because that is im- Nicaragua now has the largest army in geared for conflicts rather than eco-
paoper and ungentlemanly and forbid- Central America. They have 44,000 homic growth. They take all of their
den. But how are they going to inter- active duty army personnel and 58,000 assets and resources and pour it into
diet ahipmmta by sea if mines, ocean militiamen, a total of 102,000. And the Defense Establishment, by far
mines are somehow wrong and con- they are building daily toward a goal more than they need to defend their
trary to international law, and brutal? of 250,000. country-from the post office of Costa
How were they going to interdict ship- Mr. SIWANDER. If I could Just re- Rica? Is that what they are afraid of?
ments at sea; do you remember? Were claim my time for a minute, are you it is utter nonsense. But it is geared
we going to bomb those ships? Were telling me then that there are approxi- for conflicts Just like Cuba, a beautiful
we going to put a naval blockade? mately 105,000 trained Nicaraguans country, with beautiful people, with
What was their plan? under arms today, as of this moment? natural resources that should flourish.
Mr. SIIJANDER. I do not think Mr. BURTON of Indiana. There is But all of their assets go into military
they had a plan. no question about it. expenditures so that they can have an
I thank the gentleman for his eom- Mr. SIIJANDER. I was told by expeditionary force in Angola, in Ethi-
ments and points. I really do not think many of the news reports and by those opia. Their army can go all over the
they had a plan. on the left in the committee and in world at the bidding of the Soviet
It is pretty obvious there is a two- the Congress on the floor that the Union, gearing their economy for corn
track philosophy ant approach by the reason for the buildup of arms in Nica- flicts instead of economic growth.
liberals. One, let us support interdic- ragua and for the training of the Is this taking care of the poor people
tion of funds for arms on land and not troops In Nicaragua was for a simple that the trendy vicars and the liber-
do anything on Sea, thereby leaving an reason, to off-balance the guerrilla ac- atlon theologians are so enthused
obvious gaping loophole in the whole tivfties. about, taking all of the money and all
philosophy in the entire legislation, Would you say 105,000 is sufficient of the assets and pouring it into the
and a more practical inlet of arms to off-balance activities of 15,000 guer- military instead of helping the poor
through the waterways of Nicaragua. r? BURTON of Indiana. I think people?
So I do not think they really had a that Mr. is an absolutely ridiculous argu- I guess the only Job you can get is if
plan for that. ment that they are -making. The fact you work for the army.
YDM Mr. B I thank d gentleman. of the matter is they have twice the I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. BURTON of f Indiana. . Will the army, twice the size of the entire Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Will the
gentleman yield? armed forces of all of Central America gentleman yield further?
Mr. SIIJANDER. I am happy to combined. All of their neighbors, if Mr. SILJANDER. I yield back to the
yield to my friend from Indiana. you add up all of their armed forces gentleman from Indiana.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. A number together, they are only about half of Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I thank
of Members of Congress had an oppor- what Nicaragua has, and Nicaragua is the gentleman very much.
tunity not long ago to meet with the continuipg to build their armed forces
Ambassadors from Honduras and toward a 250.000 man army. I would fast like to point out that
Costa Rica and to talk to them about Mr. SILJANDER. I think the gentle- the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
the problems their countries are man is making a very good point. So Hxns) has stimulated my thought
facing because of the Communist the argument they are using that this processes a little bit. I would like to
menace in Nicaragua. The leaders with buildup of arms, buildup of training, point out that instead of taking care
whom I talked, we had a long discus- buildup of manpower, is not really for of their citizens from an economic
sion, indicated to be that the Commu- strictly defensive purposes, or to stop standpoint and trying to build a sound
that Party in Costa Rica, for instance, the insurgency movement in Nicara- economic base, they are putting a lot
has been requested by the Nicaraguan gua, but it looks rather evident, at of people in fear down there. As a
Government to send their Communist least based on the statistics that we matter of fact, they are modeling their
participants to Managua to be taught are hearing, it looks rather evident entire society after the Cuban society.
guerrilla tactics and military tactics so that the real goal is in fact consistent They are putting a Communist agent
that they can come back and under- with the export of arms, the export of or sympathizer in every block so that
mine the Government of Costa Rica. training and revolution throughout' can Inform upon their neighbors
The same thing in Honduras. if they
Central America. Their interegts are have any concern about what
As a matter of fact, recently they not just merely defensive, and to cease the Government is doing in Nicaragua.
found 600 Communists that had been and desist the insurgency, but, rather, So there is a spy network that it
trained in guerrilla tactics and mild- quote the Sandinistas themselves. taking over in Nicaragua which is un-
tary tactics in Nicaragua coming back to bring this revolution much further dermining the very society down
across the border to try to stir up trou- than their own borders. there.
ble in Honduras. And they have been Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If I may, Mr. SILJANDER. Are you saying, I
training these people in Managua to if the gentleman would yield further, I want to understand this more clearly,
undermine these governments. would like to point out that Alberto the gentleman from Indiana is sug-
In addition to that, they have had Ortega, Daniel Ortega's brother, who gesting that in Nicaragua they are
labor leaders who are Communist sym- is the Defense Minister there, has said placing in every precinct of sorts or
pathizers in Costa Rica and Honduras on numerous occasions that he wants every block Communist sympathizers
in Managua trying to work with them this revolution from Costa Rica all the or Marxists sympathizers to the Gov-
in starting strikes in both those coun- way to Guatemala, and assuming his ernment that will observe and watch
tries to undermine those governments. attitude is not going to change, into their neighbors, and if they observe
There they are working day and night Mexico as well, and that endangers any activity which they consider-anti-
trying to undermine those govern- the very security of the United States government and they report this to
ments to such a degree that they will of America. the Government, then the Govern-
fall of their own weight. Mr. HYDE. Will the gentleman ment can thereby take some form of
In addition to that, I would like to yield? action against those civilians?
quote some facts and statistics which Mr. SIIJANDER. I am happy to 01930
have not been discussed much by yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
those who favor pulling in our horns Mr. HYDE. I thank the gentleman Mr. BURTON of Indiana. That is
throughout Central America. for yielding. right.
3
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April 11, 1984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE H 2757
Mr. SII,JANDER. That does not do not give the proper military aid and strange; to say that that is going to
sound like a very open and free soci- assistance to Nicaragua, the contras cost American lives when the nation-
ety. I might remind the gentleman in Nicaragua and El Salvador, we are als of these countries are putting their
that in 1979, after the takeover of going to have real severe problems in lives on the ling in order to stem the
tyrant Somoza the Sandinistas went the not-too-distant future. tide toward the United States.
before the OAS looking for recogni- My biggest concern is that American Mr. SILJANDER. Regaining my
tion, saying that all of you should rec- boys at some point in the future will time, I think this Is precisely the point
ognize us because we will initiate in be involved in a land war somewhere that stirs my heart and stirs my emo-
our new government, Sandinista gov- between here and Central America, tiohs, because while I sit In Congress
ernment, freedom of religion, freedom probably Mexico, trying to defend the and all day today in the Foreign Af--
of press, freedom of labor unions to freedoms that we enjoy today, unnec- fairs Committee, listening to testimo-
participate, freedom of speech and essarily. ny by Kenneth Dam, who In Assistant
freedom of travel and life and society Mr. SIIJANDER. I yield to the gen- Secretary, regarding the mining inci-
and elections. tleman from Pennsylvania. dent, when I see the mining incident,
And what I am hearing is that a soci- Mr. RITTER. I think that is an ex- it is an out, a scapegoat for the liberals
ety gearing up for not a defensive cellent point, because some of the crit- now to suggest, "Let us cut off all
mechanism to defend themselves, but ics of the policy in Central America covert assistance, any assistance, overt
a mechanism really for promoting war have said that we are leading up to the or covert, to the Contras, the counter-
and revolution. It sound like we are commitment of U.S. troops. revolutionaries, the freedom fighters
hearing a system and a society that is Now listen to this reasoning: The in Nicaragua."
repressing the civilians by the Big reason we are leading up to the com- I see this as their opportunity for
Brotherlsm, rather than having TV mitment with U.S. troops is because now to say, "It is time now Congress
cameras in every home, we have a the Nicaraguans really, the Nicara- should cut it off completely." And if
block watcher in each block or each guar Freedom Fighters, the Nicara- we do so, if we in Congress decide to
precinct. guans who want the Sandinistas to turn our backs on the freedom fight-
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. That is ex- live up to their promises, they are out era in Nicaragua, if we do that, then
actly right. there fighting. There could be more of they will be those responsible for, in-
Mr. SILJANDER. Is this what you them fighting if there was the support
are alluding to? for them. evitably, as the gentleman from Penn-
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Yes, it is. That is going to lead to the commit- sylvania is alluding to, then they will
be responsible for sending American
If the gentleman would yield further, ment of U.S. troops. In other words, troops from their own borders into
because I will state a few more facts which I the Salvadoran Government Mexico to stabilize a very unstable sit-
think the American people and this and Its army is fighting against the uation.
Congress ought to be aware of. There Cuban-Soviet-Nicaraguan insurgents, What do you think the Russians are
are now about 8,000 Cuban advisers in death squads, that is going to lead to doing there to the tune of thousands
Nicaragua, including at least 2,000 mil- the commitment of U.S. troops. of Russian advisers, also Bulgarians,
itary advisers. The fact is that when people In training in secret 9,000 Cubans? They
In 1983, an estimated 15,000 tons of these countries, nationals of - these are not there for a picnic.
Soviet bloc arms and equipment countries fight for their own freedom. RITTEX I thought they were
and
reached the Sandinista army; that is are willing to risk their lives for their countries there because they enjoy the climate
about a 80-percent increase over 1982. and their freedom so of the Caribbean.
So they are building this military ma- that they are not subverted by a chine at a very rapid rate. Nicaragua is Marxist Axis of Nicaragua, Cuba, and Mr. SILJANDER. I appreciate the
equipped with the most modern weep- the Soviet Union, that is when t S. humor of the gentleman, because it
ons, dozens of Soviet-made tanks. troops will not be used. does illustrate In a sarcastic frame-
Now we have a condition where work just the very Issue we are all
Recently, they received from Bulger- frame-
ia, another Communist bloc country, these people with a little bit of sup- talking about. They are there for a
de-
amphibious tanks so ' they could go port are wring to put their lives on precise purpose; he ma clear estic purpose,
economy. to
into the swamp areas s there and make the line and fight the, emissaries of the stabilize into they wipe areas the Contras, who Soviet Union. If we withdraw our as- draw attention to, the PLO anyway,
are trying to regain their country. aistance, that is when these emissaries draw attention away from the Middle
There are 800 Soviet -bloc tanks, of the Soviet Union become extraordi- Fast to the United States, our own
Soviet M-152 howitzers, 100 atanks narily powerful, can move up the Cen- borders, because they see this revolu-
Soviet America Isthmus toward Mexico tion without frontiers, they see a
craft guns, helicopters, planes. and the Rio Grande River and it is Mexico that is economically dis-
They are expanding four of their precisely then when these countries traught; they see a debt crisis in Cen-
airports down there so they will ac- have fallen that U.S. troops may well tral America, looming on the horizon.
commodate Mig-23 jet airplanes flown be put into play. They see a great opportunity consider-
in from the Soviet Union. The Govern- What we are trying to do, what I un- Ing two-thirds of all American trade
ment has T-54 and T-55 tanks; they derstand the gentleman from Indiana going through the Caribbean Basin.
recently sent approximately 70 Nicara- In saying, is that we do not want Mr. Rrrr=. Is the gentleman
guano to Bulgaria for training as pilots United States troops committed. We saying that if this Congress withdraws
and mechanics. I can go on and on and are willing to assist those who are will. support for the Contras those fight-
on. Ing to put their lives on the line and ing. so that the Sandinistas will live up
There is no doubt in my mind or fight for freedom and at a cost-you to their promises that if America with-
anybody who is studying the problems talk about $20 million for the contras draws the $21 million that that will
in Central America, that the Sandi- in Nicaragua, you talk about $60 mil- make the situation far more dangerous
nista government in Nicaragua is lion for El Salvador, that is the cost of for the United States in that region.
building a war machine that has but a couple of sophisticated fighter Mr. SILJANDER. Absolutely. Who
one purpose and that Is to take away planes. A Trident submarine costs $1 is off balance? The hundreds of mil-
the freedoms of the people through- billion, an MX costs hundreds of mu- lions of dollars of Soviet, Cuban,
out Central America, make that a lions of dollars; B-1 costs $1 billion; Libyan. PLO, oil money and oil money
Communist launching pad from and we may have to do this in order to flowing Into Nicaragua.
Mexico to out the United States in an be able to negotiate with the Soviets As the gentleman from Indiana out-
untenable situation on our southern who already have these things. lined, tanks, 105,000. an army bigger
border. But to say somehow we are spending than all Central American combined.
If this Congress does not pay atten- money ineffectively when people are And the goal stated by them of
tion to that problem to day and if we willing to fight and die, is really 250,000.
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H 2758 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE April 11, 1984
^ 1940 Jack Anderson said, when he came must be done to interdict those sup-
NOW listen, it Is pretty clear. to the district. that their goal was the plies from getting in and netting out.
Mr. RITTER. That is one-tenth of destsbiiizatiorn of the United States of The second point I would like to
the population of Nicaragua. That America. make Is that three of the gentlemen
would be equivalent, would it not, to Where the gentleman is correct, standing here in this colloquy went to
an army, a U.S. Army of 22 million once Mexico becomes a situation of Granada. And you will recall we saw
people? great turmoil, at that point there will the Soviet documents: agreements be-
Mr. SIIJANDER. That is correct. be a massive Influx north across the tween the Soviets and the Grenadian
Mr. RITTER. I thank the gentle- Rio Grande River, an Influx that even Communist government and the
man. today we have difficulty handling. Can North Koreans and the Cubans. Those
Mr. SIIJANDER. What I am trying one imagine what it would be like if a agreements pledged millions of dollars,
to say, it is clear the intention is not a tyrannical regime or widespread revo- $10 million from the North Koreans,
defensible one or one of pure defense lution comes to the country of Mexico, 15 million rubles from the Soviets to
on the part of the Sandinistas or Nica- what that would mean to the south- Grenada, an Island 8 miles by 18 miles.
raguans. It is not one the Soviets are west United States and really the They were going to use that for a mili-
there for a picnic. They are there to entire United States of America. An- tary base to expand the revolution
destabilize the entire region which demon said the goal of the Soviet throughout the eastern Caribbean
thereby destabilizes the United States. Union was the destabilization of the Into Central America and South Amer-
And after all, from the Soviet stand- United States using Central America Ica. They had given us a complete
point, they have China on one border, and the Caribbean as the stepping roadmap. The leaders of Nicaragua
who is not a clear friend, they have stones. have said the same things that Castro
Turkey on another border. Why Mr. SILJANDER. Khrushchev said has said and Bishop said In Grenada
should the United States be free of en- that, "We will bury you," to the before he was disposed. There is no
envies on our borders? United States. I do not think he meant doubt that their goal Is revolution
And since economically-I will in ashes of nuclear holocaust. I think throughout Central America and to
repeat what I said before-two-thirds he meant in a very practical Way we take over that part of the world.
of our trade goes through the Carib- will bury, us internally. He will bury us I think it Would be a dereliction of
bean Basin and Central America. through our own hemisphere, through our responsibility In the Congress of
Sixty-six percent of our imported oil, the Central American crisis that looms the United States if we did nothing
And I ask people listening, go back to over us. about it. I think it would be terrible
the time we paid double for the price I just repeat: Who Is going to pay for in to stand idly by and watch our
of oil within a month's time because of the price for the hundreds of thou- southern neighbors -succumb to the
a slight interruption of imported oil. sands of fleeing civilians, fleeing tyr- Communists.
And those lines overlapping one an- anny, who will pay the price of hous-
other, if we do this. in my opinion, we are
two and three deep around the Ing, clothing. feeding, language train-
gasoline and the fueling stations of ing? And what about the jobs that will going to rue this day. Freedom will cry
America. Beyond that, what about/the be taken from Americans? Again, let aloud from every person in every coun-
refugee crisis? 'What about the fact me repeat, refugees are not bad try we allow to be crushed under the
that it is estimated now that 50,000 people. They are just honest citizens boot of communism. I think that the
are flooding across the borders per fleeing tyranny, but can the United three of us tonight have experienced a
month. Who is going to feed and States afford 10 times the illegal imral little bit of it by going to Grenada. It
clothe them? gration we are now experiencing is incumbent upon us, as well as the
Are refugees bad people? No. today? That is the question. Can the gentlemen from California and Illinois
Mr. . Is the gentleman American taxpayers afford it? And are to get this message across to our col-
saying that hat the the nationals who have to we willing to afford it? leagues in the Congress.
ve under Marxist totalitarian rule do .BURTON of Indiana If the gen- Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the
not necessarily want to stay there
ha the tleman will yield to me, I would just gentleman yield?
gentleman attempt to live; is that what the like to make two quick points. Mr. SILJANDER. I yield to the gen-
Mr. SIIrANDER~ ~ First of all, we must, if we are going tlemsn from California.
Mr. es are fleeing l . I am saying that are to avoid these terrible things we are Mr. HUNTER. I thank the gentle-
fleeing tyranny. They arre talkin g about tonight, if we are going man for yielding.
fleeing Communist interruptions and more e- to avoid those, we must interdict the I thank all of the gentlemen who
economies in in Honduras Honduras s a and more sing massive amounts of military supplies have participated tonight for putting
are flee- fleeing coming into Nicaragua. this very important message out. The
tyranny in in Nicaragua. , agThey They are
ing this Marxist revolution. Now, there has been a lot of criti- way I feel after several days of watch-
It happened in Vietnam. Ten per- cism of mining those ports down there Ing the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua
cent of the pobulation left by boat, and I will not go into all the argu- come in and make his PR play in front
And here, as Ronald Reagan said; all ments that are going to be made today of America's televisions and talk shows
one needs to do is go by foot to leave. or have been made or will be made to- and newspapers, that In fact his visit,
And at 59,000 a month now, what if morrow. but the fact of the matter is to change the subject if you will, has
Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, we are going to have to stop those mil- been very successful. And essentially
with no army to speak of, and Mexico itary supplies from getting in there be- that Is exactly what he is involved In is
with its economic destabilizing condi- cause the minute they get in there changing the subject instead of focus-
tion today, what if they were all to they are being used within that coup tng.America's attention on the prorn-
fall? Some estimates go as high as try and they are being exported into ism that the Sandinistas made to hold
500,000 a month flooding across the El Salvador, Honduras. Guatemala. elections, which they have never held,
border. Costa Rica, every place they possibly to have a humane government in
Mr. RITTER. If the gentleman will can in Central America to undermine accord with the letter that they sent
yield further, Jack Anderson, who re- those Governments. And the only way to the OAS in July of 1979, and to
ceives great renown for his analysis you are going to stop them from get- allow a free press, and a number of
was in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsyl- ting Into those other countries and in other things. They ham instead of fo-
vania. He gave a speech to a group of the hands of Communists and Com- cusing America's attention on their
people. He said that the Soviet Union munist terrorists In those-countries is failures in those regards, they are now
was interested not In the destabilize. to stop them from getting In there in talking about the World Court and
tion of El Salvador or in the arming of the first place. . trying to focus America's attention on
the Nicaraguans, those were only step- So whether or not we mine the har- whether or not we should submit our-
ping stones. bors or try something else, something selves to the Jurisdiction of this forum.
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April 11, 1984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE
I would contend that as long as they
are in the business of destabilidng the
Americas. It is perfectly appropriate
for the United States to stop their in-
ventory from coming in.
Again I remember the Nicaraguan
Minister. Mr. D%9coto, said, after he
had been asked a question four or five
times an one program. "Are you in
fact sending arms to El Salvador?"
First he said, "We are not sending
arms in violation of any laws." And
when he was really pinned down, he fi-
nally said, "No; we are not."
I think that Democrats and Republi-
cans have watched the classified brief-
ings. I do not think there is any doubt
that arms and ammunition are going
from Nicaragua to El Salvador. I do
not think any Member in this Cham-
ber would dispute that. They might
have a dispute over whether or not in
fact our assistance to the freedom
fighters in Nicaragua is substantially
interdicting the flow of arms, but
nobody doubts that there is a flow of
arms from Nicaragua into El Salvador.
Mr. SILJANDER. Let me ask the
gentleman a question then. Does the
gentleman not find It in the context of
what we have talked about tonight
rather Incredible that Members of the
U.S. Congress, here in the land of the
free and the brave, the greatest model
of democracy in the world, is it not
rather amazing that because of this
mining incident that that should be
reason enough to cut off all covert as-
sistance, In any form or any kind,
overt or covert for that matter, to the
counterrevolutionaries or freedom
fighters in-Nicaragua? I find it rather
WVAing.
Why and what, in the gentleman's
opinion. would motivate Members of
this body to advocate that as a result
of this mining incident. we should
thereby cut off all assistance and
allow the revolution to continue, allow
the destabilisation of that region to
continue, which will be, as we have
talked about very often tonight, an
erosion of our own security and econo-
my at our borders.
01950
Mr. HUNTEA,. I think to answer the
gentleman's question that if they are
successful, if the Sandinista propagan-
da effort is successful in sending the
Foreign Minister out here to hit the
American media and to appear on the
talk shows and do the Interviews with
the print media, If that effort is in fact
followed by this Congress cutting off
aid to the freedom fighters In Nicara-
gua he Is going to be able to go home
and say, "Mission Accomplished. We
pulled off one of the greatest propa-
ganda efforts in the history of this
conflict.
"Here we have been able to divert
American attention away from the se-
curity matter that they were operat-
ing under before the security concerns
for Central America, we have been
able to divert attention away from the
fact that we have-- Abused human
rights In our country, we have diverted
attention away from the fact that we
have never held elections."
And I understand new the rules are
if they hold the elections they are
going to the a whole 15 minutes a
week to all of the opposition parties
combined. I think their time is going
to be something like midnight to 18
after midnight. They are not going to
allow popular people in the country,
like Eden Pastore, to appear on the
ballot because they would otherwise
win. And the only political assemblies
that will be allowed will be political as-
semblies that the government sane-
tione, that is, the assemblies that are
focused on government candidates.
So they have made a mockery of the
representations that they have made
to the OAS. This talk about a repre-
sentative democratic government that
they talked about is so much baloney,
and yet they have turned America's
attention. More Importantly, they
have turned the attention of the lead-
ership, the leadership in this House-
and every person here represents a
constituency of about half a million
people-away from the real issues.
And that is going to be a tragedy.
I cannot feel mad at my colleagues
on the other side of the aisle, even
those on this side of the aisle, who feel
that the issue now is to decide wheth-
er or not we should succumb to the ju-
risdietion of the World Court and try
to go through these legal equations. If
in fact this House turns its attention
away from the tremendous danger
that is manifest in the regime in Nica-
ragua to the United States of America
and our allies in this hemisphere, it
will be a tremendous tragedy.
Mr. SILTANDER. I thank the gen-
tleman very much for his comments.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, will the
gentleman yield?
Mr. SIIJANDER. I yield to the gen-
tleman !from Illinois.
Mr. HYDE. I want to say to my
friend from California that I looked
up the World Court today. They have
15 Judges. One is from the Soviet
Union, one is from Poland. one is from
Syria, there is one from India.
Now, I suggest that I would be very
chary about submitting anybody's
human rights to Judges from the
Soviet Union and Poland and Syria.
And India worries me a little bit be-
cause they have not been all that sym-
pathetic with the consent between the
Marxist-Leninists and the United
States.
But I would hesitate to bring some
of the world's toughest controversies
to that World Court. Maybe the West
Bank settlements, maybe the Golan
Heights. I Just do not think we would
trust an evenhanded verdict from that
court. And why should the national se-
curity of this hemisphere be brought
over to a forum that far away that has
on its Judicial bench people whose
whole philosophy, not to say theology,
H 2759
is antithetical to the struggle against
Marxist-Leninism to this hemisphere.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. SILJANDER. If I might make
one point about the World Court, I
think an overriding concern certainly
in the World Court is: How can the
United States logically and tragically
bring before a World Court system ex-
posed to international press issues and
facts that Kenneth Dam. Assistant
Secretary, could not bring before an
open committee of the U.S. Congress?
He said, "I am sorry, I cannot answer
any of those questions regarding the
mining because it is classified evidence
or classified information. I will be
happy to respond in a closed, classified
briefing."
So we are expected to go before the
World Court and expose our classified
information and discuss the guerrilla
activities. It seems rather illogical, No.
1, that we discuss S~nndd argue an Irregu-
lar war activity, which is very difficult
to pinpoint anyway, and. No. 2. that
we discuss information which we
cannot openly discuss In the United
States of America and before the For-
eign Affairs Committee of this Con-
gress.
So I think that, really. comes right
down to the point why we are crazy.
Certainly it would be foolish to go
before a court under those circum-
stances, beyond the fact that the San-
dinistas have tried the United Nations
to divert attention away from human
rights violations and social injustices.
Now they are going to the World
Court. It is all a propaganda ploy.
Why do they not go before the Conta-
dora Four? That is where we place
confidence, in their own people. Why
should they go beyond, to outside In-
ternational realms, to those who are
not as close to persecutions?
Mr. RITTER. I will tell the geentle-
man why, if the gentleman will yield.
There is a very good reason why.
Mr. SILJANDER. I will yield to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania to tell
me why.
Mr. RITTER. Because the Sandinis-
tas are experts in theater. The Sandi-
nistas are putting on a show before
the world in order to hide the Inequi-
ties and to hide the vast Soviet mili-
tary buildup that is going on In their
country, in order to hide behind this
veil of theater at the World Court
what they are doing as command and
control over the Insurgents In El Sal-
vador.
Now, I find this feeling of hurt that
the Sandinistas have expressed inter-
esting, to say the least.
Think of the hypocrisy. The Sandi-
nistas. the Marxist-Len rdat Soviet-
Cuban dominated Sandinistas, they
are up in arms about mining of their
harbors, while at the same time they
are in charge of directing what the
next bridge is to be blown up In 12 Sal-
vador, what the next road is to be
blown up, what the next power station
and telephone line is to be blown up.
- M" --- i
E>aadir~e Rt 's
?2(_ n v/.
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H 2760 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE
And it is there in the House Intelli-
gence Committee report, and the liber-
als and the conservatives and the Re-
publicans and the Democrats all know
the command and control function of
the Nicaraguan Government over the
insurgency in El Salvador.
Mr. SIIJANDER. Where is the
outcry? Reclaiming my time, where is
the outcry, then, of these freedom
lovers on the left who think it is so
horrible? To quote one of the mem-
bers of the Foreign Affairs Committee,
he said because we are allowing. the
freedom fighters to use concussion
bombs, concussion mines, which do
not sink any vessels, they have not
killed a single soul yet.
"I used to think," he said, "there
was a difference between the Soviet
Union and the United States going to
such radical, fanatical extremes to
compare our allowance of freedom
fighters interdict arms," suggesting
therefore in & .syllogistic way that we
are equal to the Soviet Union because
of their persecutions.
Mr. RITTER. If the gentleman will
yield, these are the same people who
said that our rescue operation in Gre-
nada was equivalent to the Soviet in-
vasion of Afghanistan.
This is the convoluted thinking, this
mirror image thinking, that somehow
Stalin's heirs, Hitler's moral twins, are
the same as the world's greatest de-
mocracy. This entails a substantial
loss of self-confidence and self-assur-
ance in the goodness of the American
democratic experiment. This entails a
blindfold over reality, whereby when
repressed people the world over wish
to escape somewhere, where do they
come? They spend years trying to get
in here. And to somehow equate the
United States with the Soviet Union
because we are helping freedom fight-
ers regain their just due, as promised
by the Sandinistas, with Nicaraguan
totalitarian leaders is really stretching
the point. And I think the American
people will see through this theater
that the Sandinistas Marxist-Leninists
have been promoting at the World
Court.
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. Mr. Speaker,
will the gentleman yield?
`Mr. SILJANDER. I yield to the gen-
tleman from California.
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. I thank the
gentleman for yielding.
We do not have to make veiled allu-
sions to the secret briefings or Intelii-
sence Committee reports that are not
made available to the public. All we
have to do is to read the Intelligence
Committee report itself when they re-
ported to this House, an official docu-
ment, an open document. They said in
several places in that document that
beyond any doubt the Sandinistas
were providing arms, ammunition, di-
rection and control, communication di-
rection, and all of that, to the guerril-
las in El Salvador.
I suggest that what is happening
here, regardless of what one might
feel about the mining issue itself-as
the gentleman has pointed out, not
one ship has been sunk, no one has
been killed, I do not think anyone has
even been injured, while there have
been injuries and deaths, and so on, in
the land war that is going on between
the Contras and the Sandinista armed
forces. But I think what has happened
is, as has been pointed out already
here, certain people in this body and
in the other body and in the public
itself are using this issue as an excuse
to shut off all covert aid to the Con-
tras in Nicaragua.
0 2000
I suggest what is happening here re-
gardless of what one might feel about
the mining issue itself, and as the gen-
tleman pointed out, not one ship has
been sunk, no one has been killed. I do
not think anybody even has been in-
jured. While there- have been injuries
and death and so on in the land war
that is going on between the Contras
and the Sandinista armed forces.
I think what has happened is, as has
been pointed out already here, certain
people in this body and in the other
body and in the public itself, are using
this issue as an excuse to shut off all
covert aid to the Contras in Nicaragua.
I suggest the reason that is happening
is because the Contras are starting to
have some success.
They have recently been able to get
together. Ardes in the North, or Ardes
in the South, Pastora's organization
and that of Robelo. With FDN. in the
North and with the Miskito Indian
groups, two of those. They are starting
to do some real damage. I do not think
there is any danger on the part of or
any fear of danger that they are going
to overthrow the government, but
they certainly are giving them a bad
time, and they are making them think
about whether or not they do want to
continue to not keep their promises.
They have even made some noises in
the direction of changing their society.
I do not think they are sincere, but at
least they are making those noises.
I do not think that anybody believes,
truly believes that if all that were to
stop, if all the Contras were to disap-
pear from Nicaragua, that the Sandin-
ista government would go ahead with
those things it has said it will do.
Mr. SILJANDER. Let me ask the
gentleman a question: Who are the
counterrevolutionaries? We have
talked about the Contras, who are
they?
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. There are
three groups as I understand it. One is
a group of persons known as the FDN.
There is a seven-member board of di-
rectors, consisting of people who were
Somoza opponents for the most part. I
think there is one National Guard
colonel who spent all of the civil war
here in Washington because he did not
apparently enjoy the confidence of Mr
Somoza so he had him out of the
country. The rest are all civilians who
were mostly in opposition to Mr.
Somoza.
April 11, 1984
One of them, Adolpho Calero, is a
conservative businessman who sup-
ported the Sandinistas when they first
came into office.
Mr. RITTER. Who was indeed im-
prisoned by Somoza at one time.
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. I was going to
point that out. I went to Nicaragua in
November of 1979 right after the revo-
lution took place in July. Mr. Calero
was one of the businessmen who asked
me and the other members of that del-
egation to give economic assistance to
the new government so they could sur-
vive.
So, he was not against them until
they started imposing their Cuban-
style revolution on what had hap-
pened. They stole the revolution is
what happened. The people in the
South have an even more interesting
history: The military leader of that
group is Eden Pastora, known popular-
ly in Nicaragua as Captain Zero. He is
the one who captured the National As-
sembly and held scores of very promi-
nent people hostage for a long time,
and who really put the revolution
across. He was one of the top com-
manders in that revolution. A real gun
soldier, not a desk soldier at all.
He became disillusioned. He is not
what we would call a conservative. But
he became very disillusioned with the
Cubanization of that society, and he is
now in opposition to it. One of his
compadres is Alphonso Robelo, who is
a member of the original junta; not
the nine-member directorate, not the
military arm, but the civilian arm that
was right underneath that; the five
,people.
He became disillusioned. Then there
are two groups of Indiana who are
really fighting for their survival.
Anyone who would suggest, as some
did when we had a debate on this
before, that they are doing it for the
money, I think are really trivializing.
Mr. SILJANDER. That is why I find
it difficult to understand why the
same people who are on the left are
saying that we should cut all aid to
the counterrevolutionaries over to co-
vertly are the same ones that are sug-
gesting that all the freedom fighters
are former members of the National
Guard under Somoza.
Now that is obviously, blatantly,
clearly untrue. So at every angle we
turn, any issue we seem to assess more
than superficially, we find that the
rhetoric lacks substance.
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. The gentle-
man pointed out one very good exam-
ple of that. There were what, some
7,000 or 8,000 members of the National
Guard under Somoza? There are
10,000 Contras right now. So, even if
they all survive and they all did that,
there are more. So obviously they are
not all Somocistas.
Mr. SILJANDER. I yield to the gen-
tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Rrrrza).
Mr. RITTER. There are probably
more former Somocistas serving in the
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April 11, 1984 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE
Sandinista Army than there are serv-
ing with the Contras.
Mr. LAOOMARSINO. As a matter
of fact, recently an entire unit, 250
Sandiniets regular soldiers defected to
the Eden Pastaora's group Ardes, in
the South of Nicaragua.
Mr. SILJANDER. The gentleman
mentioned the Miskito Indians in the
Eastern and Northern section of Nica-
ragua. It seems incredible to me also
of the human rights and religious vio-
lations of those peoples alone. If I
were a Miskito Indian, and the govern-
ment that promised freedom of reli-
gion, freedom of speech, freedom of
travel, placed 90 percent of my people
in sugar cane work camps, Cucra Hill.
for example, has 12,000 Miskito Ind--
am, it Is built for approximately 800. I
think there is one doctor that comes
by once a week. There Is very little
food, very little medical attention and
there are other work camps elsewhere
in Nicaragua of Miskito Indians.
If they burned 127 of my churches
down. I would think that the freedom
at religion rhetoric certainly did not
go too far In terms of reality.
I yield to the gentleman from Penn-
sylvania (Mr. RrrrmR).
Mr. Rrf TZR. It is truly amazing
that after what the Sandinistas did to
the Miskito Indian people, the ethnic
peoples of the east coast of Nicaragua,
that there was not an incredible
outcry all over the United States and
the rest of the West. But this silence,
amounts to a deafening roar. The fact
is, that the leader, one of the key lead-
ers of the Miskito Indian, Misura
Group, his name is Stedman Fagoth.
Stedman was told, in a Nicaraguan Jail
by Thomas Borga who happens to be
the Interior Minister that if he had to,
if Barge had to, If the Sandinistas had
to, to bring Sandinism to the east
coast of Nicaragua, they would kill the
last Miskito.
Now, these are the criminals that we
here on this House floor are saying is
the duly constituted Government of
Nicaragua. No wonder there is a sub-
stantial. and this is a real revolution,
the revolution of the Contras and
Ardes, and the Miskitos against the
Sandinistas. no wonder, because they
have adopted the kind of policies
which, regarding the Miskitos, amount
to genocide.
Mr. SILJANDER. I yield to the gen-
tleman from California (Mr. Lsoorrea-
sum).
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. The gentle-
man from Pennsylvania mentioned re-
ligion and I think it Is interesting to
note that when some of us were in El
Salvador, I will be speaking about this
later, for the election down there, we
had the occasion to meet with arch-
bishop Rivera y Damns. Archbishop
Rivera y Damns is certainly not one
who could be characterized as being,
well how should I put it, he certainly
enjoys the reputation of being quite
liberal, of being very studious about
what he says, being very careful about
what he says, and he has not been
known for criticizing the left any more
than he has criticized the right
We asked him about the religious
situation In Nicaragua and he said
there are two views of that. He said
one view Is that the Nicaraguans have
really terribly violated the religious
rights of the people of that country;
they have prohibited the bishop there
from saying his mass on television as
he had done before; they have inter-
fered with teligious education, and
they have set up a really competitive
church. a popular church, as they call
It. which has been criticized by Pope
John Paul IL
He said there Is another view that
the revolution there is going along
pretty well and that there are a few
problems but that they do not amount
to much. He said. I subscribe to the
first view. That is about as strong a
statement as he makes about any-
thing. We all know what the Sandinia-
taa did to the Pope when he was there:
Orchestrated a very demeaning experi.
ence for him with people yelling and
holding up signs and so on. So I think,
as the gentleman said earlier, the San-
dinistas certainly have not kept their
promise. and one of the reasons that
the Contras are engaged in the activi-
ty they are, which was pointed out
earlier, Is not because they are getting
money, but because they are laying
their life on the line each and every
day that they are engaged in that ao.
tivity.
02010
One of the reasons that they are
doing that Is to hold the Govern-
ment's feet there to the fire to make
them keep those promises, to have
free elections, to have free labor
unions, and all the rest of it.
Mr. RITTER. Mr. Speaker, will the
gentleman yield?
Mr. SIIJANDER. I yield to the gen-
tleman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. RITTER. I thank the gentleman
from Michigan for yielding and, inci-
dentally. I thank him very much for
organizing this special order because I
think there is so much mythology sur-
rounding the subjects that it is abso-
lutely essential that some of the facts
get through.
Going back to the mining Incident, I
think it should be stated that not only
are these mines not capable of sinking
a ship, not capable really of injuring
people, but also that when these mines
were set, the countries and the ship-
ping firms that were shipping Into
these ports were. notified. Not only
were they notified. but as I under-
stand it. Lloyds of London was even
contacted to check on the possibilities
of insurance In the case of damage.
I think what we are really talking
about here is the difference between a
mine at we and a mine on the land. As
a matter of fact, a mine on the lane-
can do far more human damage. So
this great outcry needs to be put in
some perspective.
H 2761
What our policy in Nicaragua bass.
Wally amounts to is, one, we seek the
Sandinista rulers to begin to bring an.
end to their military relationship with
the Soviet Union and Cuba that makes
them into another armed camp, that
makes them into another base for ex-
porting revolution. their term "revolu-
tion" In this Hemisphere.
We seek a cessation of their export-
ing violence to their neighbors. We
seek a reduction of the size and extent
of their military forces as endangering
the rest of the isthmus, as endanger-
ing perhaps even the United States
itself. We seek an opening up of the
political system for pluralism so that a
promise made today cannot be turned
upon tomorrow; that the system is
pluralistic, democratic, and allows the
people to make the decisions, the Nica-
raguan people to make the decisions,
not the Politburo and the KGB and
the Soviet international fighting force
of Soviets and Czechs and Bulgarians
and North Koreans and what have
you.
What is wrong with that? Those are
honorable goals. Those are goals that
certainly the people of Nicaragua, If
they had a chance to vote on those
goals, would support them themselves.
They do not want to be Cubanized,
Ruasified, and tamed Into an armed
camp. They are now drafting 14-year-
olds. They are having an enormous
problem with their population, trying
to bring in vast-new quantities of re-
cruits. but this is their way of millta-
rising the society further.
What we are talking about Is the
bottom line, some return, some form
of the Monroe Doctrine, which says
that large aggressive, foreign, hostile
powers shall not make severe foot-
holds contrary to the security Inter-
ests of the United States in this Hemi-
sphere. And this Is what we see. .
Mr. SIIJANDLR. I thank the gen-
tleman from Pennsylvania very much
for his comments and all the other
gentlemen who have participated in
this special order.
Mr. Speaker, I would Just like to end
by saying we should not allow the
issue, the real Issue at hand. a Soviet-
PLO-Libyan-Cuban backed revolution
throughout Central America to be de-
tracted by an obscure issue, and the
bottom line is an obscure issue of
mines In the harbors in Nicaragua. as
a scapegoat to evade our responsibility
and to avoid our responsibility to back
freedom fighters in Nicaragua, which
is no different than backing freedom
fighters in Afghanistan fighting Soviet
oppression there, and as we should
have done back in World War II with
the Jews In the ghettoes, the Warsaw
ghetto in Poland fighting against Fas-
cist radicalism there.
I see a consistency of all three and I
hope we can stand up as Americans
and really see the need for us to Join
in unity and harmony and not allow
ourselves to be detracted by hypes and
bF media attention on an obscure issue
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H 2762
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE April 11, 1984
that is obscuring the reality of the
tragedy of the situation in Central
America and the need for all Ameri-
cans to unify behind a common goal to
assist the freedom fighters in stabiliz-
ing every precarious situation.
e SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
iDDrevious order of the House. the gen-
tlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. VuceNo-
vicx) is recognized for 60 minutes.
[Mrs. VUCANOVICH addressed the
House. Her remarks will appear here-
after in the Extensions of Remarks.]
THE FACTS ABOUT CENTRAL
AMERICA TODAY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under
a previous order of the House, the gen-
tleman from California (Mr. LAGOMAR-
INo) is recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. Mr. Speaker,
As you know, I was in El Salvador at
the end of March to serve as an offi-
cial observer of the presidential elec-
tions. All 31 of us-18 Members of
Congress, Labor and religious leaders,
professors and private businessmen-
who made up the official delegation
named by President Reagan, came
away with the impression that democ-
racy is truly alive and functioning in
El Salvador. When we returned, our
bipartisan group gave to President
Reagan our assessment of the impor-
tance of continued support for the ef-
forts of the Government of El Salva-
dor to further the creation of a vital,
representative, functioning democracy.
Sometimes it is difficult to measure
the degree of progress being made
toward a subjective goal like repre-
sentative government. But I can tell
you watching thousands on thousands
of Salvadorans wait patiently in line
for hours just to vote impressed me
that they truly believed that their par-
ticipation would make a difference for
the future of their country. Many of
these Salvadorans trekked miles to
cast their votes. One lady carrying a
baby told me she had walked 6 miles
and had already been in line for three
hours, waiting to vote for peace, she
said. The Salvadorans had to brave
bullets and bunions, they were not de-
terred from registering their prefer-
ence for the next President of El Sal-
vador. As it turns out, no single candi-
date got a majority of the votes and
there will have to be a runoff election
in early May to determine the final
winner. Most experts seem to think
that Napoleon Duarte, the candidate
who won the largest percentage of the
voting in March, will emerge the
winner in the runoff.
It is true not everyone who wanted
to was able to vote. Bureaucratic
snafus and redtape complicated a
process that was already made diffi-
cult by the guerrilla war being waged
in parts of the country. The Marxist
guerrillas tried to disrupt the election
process by confiscating identification
cards, burning ballot boxes and attack-
ing polling places. At the start of the
day, some 20 small municipalites on
the northern border were prevented
from participating because of guerrilla
activities, and by the end of the day
another 22 precincts had their voting
activities disrupted. But, approximate-
ly 78 percent of the Salvadorans voted,
and that is a significant number in any
country.
There was some criticism that
people had to vote-that it is required
by law. That is true in many Latin
American countries, Western Europe-
an countries and Australia. I am ad-
vised the law has never been enforced
in El Salvador. In any case, let me ask
you this. Would you rather risk a few
colones fine-which has never been
imposed-or being stopped at a guer-
rilla checkpoint and have them see
you voted after their warnings not to?
The final argument-and a good
one-is a variation of leading a horse
to water.. For the purpose of argu-
ment, let us say-against everything I
and all of my colleagues saw and
heard with our own eyes and ears-
that Salvadorans could be made to
vote against their will. Even so they
could not be made to vote any certain
way, or for any particular person or
party. In El Salvador the traditional
way of protesting the choice is by cast-
ing a blank ballot. In the last Presi-
dential election-a rigged one in 1976-
50 percent of the ballots were blank.
By contrast, in the 1982 election, less
than 10 percent were blank and less
than that this March, 3 percent.
By voting in the elections in El Sal-
vador, the people were making a politi-
cal statement about the future of
their country. The Salvadorans want
an end to war, they want to be able to
live their lives in peace with the hope
of making a decent living, and they
have chosen the ballot box, not guns,
as the way to express their desire for
change. They were showing by action
what El Salvador's Archbishop Rivera
Y Damas told us, "The guerrillas do
not have the support of the people."
It is ironic to me that people who
are fighting so hard to achieve democ-
racy in their country, who are sacrific-
ing so much, who reflect the desire for
freedom and a better life for their
children are the victims of a bitter and
frustrating debate in the Congress
about whether or not the United
States should help. The National Bi-
partisan Commission on Central
America worked exhaustively for 6
months, speaking to more than 200 ex-
perts in the United States and 300 in
Central America. They concluded-
and this was a group of Democrats.
Republicans and Independents-that
Central America is both vital and vul-
nerable, and that whatever other crisis
may arise to claim the Nation's atten-
tion, the United States cannot afford
to turn away from that threatened
region.
Those of us who observed the elec-
tions in El Salvador returned to the
United States fully understanding the
conclusions of the Commission. The
United States must support the coun-
tries of Central America with a level
of funding that will insure that those
nations, like El Salvador, will have the
means-politically, economically, and
militarily-to develop and strengthen
their Democratic system.
^ 2020
Mr. ZSCHAU. Mr. Speaker, will the
gentleman yield?
Mr. LAGOMARSINO. I yield to the
gentleman from California.
(Mr. ZSCHAU asked and was given
permission to revise and extend his re-
marks.) STAT
Mr. ZSCHAU. Mr. Speaker, I thank
the gentleman for yielding. I want to
commend my colleague and friend, the
gentleman from California (Mr. LAco-
MARSINO) for arranging this special
order.
I think it is very important that the
people of this country, as well as those
in this Congress, understand what
really took place on March 25, 1984,
the date of the Salvadoran presiden-
tial elections. Before I went to El Sal-
vador as part of the Presidential group
to observe the elections, I was given
brochures that had been preprinted,
that indicated that the elections would
be a sham, that this was Just a cha-
rade, that it was a public relations
gimmick in order to get support for an
ill-fated and ill-conceived policy of this
administration, that the people would
be forced to vote, that the elections
would be rigged; so as you might sus-
pect, I was a little skeptical, having
read the propaganda about whether or
not these elections would take place in
a good fashion.
When I went to the towns of Cojut-
peque, San Martine, San Salvador, Ilo-
basco, and San Vicente, I saw in the
early morning long lines of people,
people had walked for miles to get a
chance to cast their ballots. They were
standing there in the hot Sun. Some
had arrived at 5 o'clock in the morn-
ing, even though the polls did not
open until 7. Some probably stood in
line waiting to vote for a long as 6
hours, maybe even longer.
There were frustrations associated
with it, as the gentleman from Califor-
nia mentioned. Some of the polling
places had been overrun by guerrillas.
The power had been knocked out the
night before, which added to the con-
fusion on an already complicated elec-
tion day.
In addition, there were the snafus
that arose as a result of an overzealous
attempt, in my opinion, to make sure
that there could be no legitimate
charges that the elections were rigged.
Every member in Salvador, every citi-
zen in Salvador, had to have an identi-
fication card and also a name on a list
and many people because they did not
know exactly where they were to vote
Just stood in lines for hours only to
find that they were at the wrong poll-
ing place.
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